FOUR

THE COMPLEX SENTENCE – A CLASSIFICATION OF

DEPENDENT CLAUSES

Aim of this unit: to introduce the two main criteria of classification

employed in classifying dependent clauses
Objectives: to help students get an overall picture related to
correspondences between various categories of dependent clauses

Contents:
4.1. The Functional Criterion of Classification
4.2. The Structural Criterion of Classification
4.3. A Cross-Classification of Dependent Clauses
4.4. Key Concepts

As previously shown, the complex sentence is made up of at least one main clause and a
dependent or a subordinate one. Unlike in the case of compound sentences - which are
based on coordination - the complex sentence relies heavily on the process of
subordination. This is the reason why a classification of subordinate clauses should be in
order.

Nota bene!
The complex sentence is made up of main clauses and other
subordinate clauses.
e.g. If you want to listen to Bohemian Rhapsody, turn on the stereo
and you will hear the most amazing combination of sounds which
will certainly delight you.
Classifying dependent clauses will employ two main criteria:

4.1. the FUNCTIONAL one – which, as the name suggests it, takes into
consideration the syntactic function of the respective clause.
From the functional point of view, subordinates can be classified into:

a) subject clauses

(1) Whoever did that was a genius.

(Cel care a făcut acest lucru a fost un geniu.)
(2) It seems that he is not your friend.
(Se pare că nu îţi este prieten.)

b) object clauses – this class includes direct objects, indirect objects and prepositional
objects:

(3) I believe that he is not here. (Direct Object)

(Cred că nu este acolo.)
(4) I am afraid that he won’t come (Prepositional Object)
(Mi-e teamă că nu o să vină.)
(5) I gave this to whomever wanted it. (Indirect Object)
(Am dat asta cui a vrut-o.)

At this point we need to provide some further explanation. An OBJECT refers to only
those items (phrases, sentences) required by the verb (or, in certain cases, by an adjective
+ preposition, such as proud of, for example). They have the feature [+ obligatory] and,
even on the rare occasions when they can be omitted, they are still presupposed by the
speaker.
For instance, the verb give is always accompanied in our mind by its obligatory
complements (direct and indirect objects):

(6) He gave the book (DO) to her (IO).

(I-a dat cartea.)

Whenever we think of this particular verb, we associate it with these objects. In a way,
we presuppose their existence in connection with the presence of the verb give in a
sentence. We do not presuppose however something like, for instance, an adverbial item,
such as a manner adverbial: with pleasure/willingly.

(7) He willingly gave the book to her.

(I-a dat cartea de bună voie.)

In (7) we can identify the verb’s obligatory objects (the book, to her) and one extra-item,
an additional one, which is the adverbial willingly. These non-obligatory items are called
adjuncts. The term comes from the verb to adjoin, i.e. to add something. Thus, a phrase
such as willingly is adjoined to the verb and its obligatory objects. In other words, it is
added to the verbal phrase in order to provide extra information.

A second observation, related to example (4), has to do with why we consider the
subordinate that he won’t come to be a prepositional object. The explanation is simple:
this subordinate can be easily replaced by a phrase preceded by a preposition, and this
preposition is in fact required and presupposed as accompanying the adjective afraid:

(8) a. I am afraid of his not coming/of this fact.

(Mi-e teamă că n-o să vină.)
b. I am afraid that he won’t come.
(Mi-e teamă că n-o să vină.)
The example under (8a) is the basic structure: an adjective and the prepositional object it
selects. The second example, under (8b) represents the derived structure: the
prepositional object is replaced by a ‘that clause’. The subordinating conjunction THAT
has completely replaced the preposition, since English no longer allows for a conjunction
and a preposition to be put together:

(9) *I am afraid of that he won’t come.

We presuppose that the preposition of has been deleted, but its effect remains even after
its wipeout. That is why we choose to call ‘prepositional object’ the ‘that-clause’
following the adjective afraid.

Last but not least, we need to draw attention to the important fact that direct objects are
normally required by transitive verbs, such as want, like, make, etc. So, before you decide
on what label to stick on an object, please check what particular item requires its presence
in the sentence. If it so happens that the object appears after a transitive verb, then you
have your typical case of ‘direct object’.

So far we have discussed subject clauses and object clauses. The third class is made up of

(c) adjuncts – those clauses (or phrases) whose presence is not obligatorily required by a
verb or an adjective. They normally have an adverbial (circumstantial) interpretation:

(10) Before she left the room she closed all the windows.
(Înainte să plece din cameră, a închis toate ferestrele.)
(11) If you don’t marry me, I’ll die.
(Dacă nu te însori cu mine, am să mor.)

(d) attributes or modifiers – those clause (or phrases) that characterize nominal phrases:

(12) The woman who was wearing red was sitting next to him on the platform.
 (Femeia în roşu stătea lângă el pe peron.)
(13) The red-wearing woman was sitting next to him on the platform.
(Femeia în roşu stătea lângă el pe peron.)

To sum up so far, the functional criterion we employed has helped us classify subordinate
clauses as follows:
SUBORDINATE CLAUSES
[+ obligatory] [- obligatory]

SUBJECTS OBJECTS ADJUNCTS MODIFIERS

e.g. Whoever did a) Direct: I believe e.g. They came to an e.g. The book that you
that was a genius. that he is smart. agreement because they gave me was very
b) Indirect: Give this wanted to go home. boring.
to whomever
wants it.
c) Prepositional: He
was afraid that
she might come
back.

Activity 1: Which of the following underlined items are obligatory and which are not?
1.She came to him of her own will. 2. I cannot tell you what I heard about you. 3. Susan
disappeared without saying a word. 4. She’s aware of his rage and that he might punish
her. 5. She told whomever wanted to listen about her problems at home. 6. After I told
her the story, she looked at me sadly.

Activity 2: Read the following and identify the subordinate clauses, stating their
function:
1.He took an intelligent interest in her, which, though it was largely politeness, was a
novelty to Mitzi. 2. When Mitzi bought the house in Brook Green she offered Austin the
best rooms, but he declined, as he had just found the little Bayswater which he inhabited
still. 3. At this time we know that we are mortal beings with but a short span of days and
that our end as our beginning belongs to God. 4. Sometimes she thought that her own
failure to marry Mathew was actually the cause of Austin’s marrying Dorina. 5. You must
know that if you do not meet it right here at home, you are choosing exile from what you
are fortunate enough to call your homeland. 6. You suggestion that we should, at our age,
remove our home yet again seems to us merely thoughtless.
(Iris Murdoch – An Accidental Man)

4.2. The second criterion we employ to differentiate between various subordinate

clauses is the STRUCTURAL one. We classify dependent clauses according to what
introductory element they exhibit:

a) complement clauses – mainly those clauses introduced by THAT, WHETHER, FOR,

etc. (the term complement is a false friend: it does not have the same meaning as the
one we use in Romanian. The Romanian term is translated by object in English. As
you can see, in example (16) the complement for him to leave fulfills the function of
subject, not object.)

(14) I knew that he liked me.

(Ştiam că mă simpatizează.)
(15) I didn’t know whether he would visit me in jail.
(Nu ştiam dacă o să mă viziteze la închisoare.)
(16) It is advisable for him to leave.
(E de dorit să plece.)
(17) I wanted to leave immediately.
(Am vrut să plec imediat.)
b) wh-complements – those clauses introduced by a wh-word/phrase (such as what,
who, where, when, how, which, why, etc.)

These include:
 indirect questions
(18) I didn’t know who had killed him.
3 (Nu ştiam cine l-a ucis.)
 relative clauses
(14) I was afraid of what he might say.
(Mi-era groază de ce ar putea spune.)
 cleft sentences
(15) It is John who did it.
(John este cel care a făcut asta.)
 pseudo-cleft sentences
(16) a. Who did it was John.
(Cel care a făcut asta este John.)
b. Where he went is London.
(Locul în care s-a dus este Londra.)

(c) adverbial clauses – those clauses subordinated by such adverbial conjunctions as:
although, if, before, etc.
Unlike complement clauses, these ones are introduced by subordinating conjunctions
with a distinct semantic charge. Compare, for instance, the following two clauses:

(17) She told me that I was a fool.

(Mi-a spus că sunt un prost.)
(18) She told me this before she left.
(Mi-a spus aceasta înainte să plece.)

In (17) the meaning of the subordinate clause is imposed by the verb in the main clause.
The subordinating conjunction that is abstract in meaning, and this is why it is the verb
that has to dictate the sense of its object. In (18), however, the meaning of the subordinate
(that of a time adverbial clause) is offered and imposed by the subordinating conjunction
not by the main clause verb.

In conclusion, consider the following table, which sums up this classification, done from
a structural point of view, that is function of the subordinating
conjunction/adverb/pronoun that introduces the respective clause. As you will see, the
categories are reduced to only three in this case. But we are going to show that we can
trace correspondences between the classes of embedded clauses mentioned under 4.1. and
the ones we are characterizing in the table below:

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES
COMPLEMENT CLAUSES WH- COMPLEMENTS ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
Introduced by that, for, whether: Introduced by wh words: Introduced by adverbial
e.g. I don’t know whether he will e.g. I will come back when I conjunctions/adverbs such as
come back. feel like it. because, as, before, after, etc.:
e.g. I will go there because I
feel like it.

Activity 3: Read the texts below and try to identify subordinate clauses from a structural
point of view:
a) My dearest son,
Your father has suggested that I should write to you so that you can be sure that he and I
are of one mind in this matter. I am not very good at this sort of letter and I did not earlier
write because the discussion was between yourself and your father, you understand. Dear
Ludwig, I cannot express to you how much we miss you. To say that I think of my dear
son every day says little. I think of him every minute and remember what times in our
day and night are his bed-time and his getting-up-times, and every night and indeed
always in my thoughts I pray for him that he may be protected and guided to do the right.
(…) Even leaving aside the concern which I know you have for our feelings, surely you
cannot sincerely believe, at your young age, that you will never want to set foot in the US
in your life again. We so much fear that you will suddenly decide to come later when it
will all have such terrible consequences. (Iris Murdoch – An Accidental Man)
b)1.The day Monroe had died was in May. Late that afternoon, Ada had prepared to go
out for a time with a box of watercolors and a piece of paper to paint the newly opened
blossoms on a rhododendron by the lower creek. As she left the house, she stopped to
speak to Monroe, who sat reading a book in a striped canvas campaign chair under the
pear tree. He seemed tired and said that he doubted he had vitality even to finish the page
he was on before he dropped off to sleep, but he asked her to wake him when she
returned, for he did not want to lie sleeping into the damp of the evening. Too, he said, he
feared he was just beyond the age at which he could rise unassisted from so low a chair.
2.It was with a familiar delicious tingle of pleasure, a tightening in her breathing, that she
realized she was now similarly hidden away, that anyone walking from the gate to the
porch would never know she was there. If one of the ladies from the church made an
obligatory visit to see about her welfare, she could sit motionless as they called her name
and knocked at the door. She would not come out until long after she had heard the gate
latch clack shut. But she thought that no one would call again. The visits had tapered off
in the face of her indifference to them. (Charles Frazier – Cold Mountain)

4.3. A Cross-Classification of Dependent Clauses

Now that we have seen two possible ways of classifying subordinate clauses, let us try
and look at how these two types of classification can be fit in the same picture. As you
have probably noticed already, the four classes discussed under the first classification do
not completely correspond to the three classes discussed under 4.2. However, a
correspondence can be traced. Consider the following table:
 SUBORDINATE CLAUSES
[+ obligatory] [- obligatory]

SUBJECTS OBJECTS ADJUNCTS MODIFIERS

.
Complements can Complements can be Complements can be Wh Complements can
be subjects: objects: e.g. I adjuncts: e.g. He be modifiers (or
e.g. That he know that he was so smart attributes): e.g.
loved her was likes her that no one was The book which/
clear. (Direct)/ I was a match to him. that you left on
afraid that she the table is very
knew the truth interesting.
(Prepositional)
Wh Complements Wh Complements can
can be subjects: e.g. Wh Complements be adjuncts: e.g.
Whoever did that can be objects: e.g. I I helped her
was a genius. don’t know what you whenever she Nota bene!
Relative that is not the
want (Direct)/ I am asked me to.
same as Complement that,
interested in what you since they are translated
know (Prepositional)/ Adverbials can be differently in English:
I gave this to adjuncts: e.g. I told her care vs. că
whomever wanted it everything after she
(Indirect). arrived.

This table makes a few things obvious: firstly, none of the three classes we have
mentioned under 4.2., i.e. complements, wh complements and adverbials can fulfill all
the functions we introduced in the table under 4.1.

Secondly, the only category that can fulfill any syntactical function is the one containing
wh complements. So, whenever you identify a wh- complement, you will have to choose
from the four possible functions mentioned here. We will come back to that in the next
chapter.

Thirdly, that complements are not the same as relative that complements: there is a clear-
cut distinction between a sentence like

(19) I think that she likes me.

(Cred că mă place.)
and
(20) The girl that likes me is pretty.
(Fata care mă place e frumuşică.)

The translation of the word that in Romanian disambiguates between these two readings.
This problem will also be the topic of the next chapter.

In the fourth place, adverbial clauses can only be adjuncts. This means that adverbial
clauses are the easiest to identify, whereas wh complements are the hardest to figure out.
A very good reason for that is the fact that in the case of adverbials, their introductory
elements (e.g. after, because, before, etc) give very clear information about the function
and meaning of the subordinate they introduce.

Nota bene!
Wh Complements can have any syntactical function.
Adverbials can only be adjuncts.

Activity 4: Consider the following text. Identify subordinate clauses and state their type
(the structural classification) and function (the functional classification):
a) Those were the abilities that she marked down in her favour. None of them seemed
exactly to the point when faced with the hard fact that she now found herself in
possession of close to three hundred acres, a house, a barn, outbuildings, but no idea
what to do with them. It gave her pleasure to play on the piano, but she did realize
that she could not weed a row of young bean plant without pulling half of them out
along with the ragweed.
b) She blew the paper to dry it and then scanned over what she had written with a
critical eye. She mistrusted her handwriting, for no matter how she tried, she had
never mastered the flowing whorls and arcs of fine penmanship. The characters her
hand insisted on forming were instead blocky and as dense as runes.
c) I am coming home one way or another, and I do not know how things might stand
between us. I first thought to tell in this letter what I have done and seen so that you
 might judge me before I return. But I decided it would need a page as broad as the
blue sky to write that tale, and I have not the will or the energy. Do you recall that
night before Christmas four years ago when I took you in my lap in the kitchen by the
stove and you told me you would forever like to sit there and rest your head on my
shoulder? Now it is a bitter surety in my heart that if you knew what I have seen and
done, it would make you fear to do such again.
(Charles Frazier – Cold Mountain)

4.4. Key Concepts

We classify dependent (i.e. subordinate or embedded) clauses according to their function

into subjects, objects (which are always obligatorily required by a verb or adjective),
adjuncts and attributes (or modifiers, because they modify, offer a plus of meaning to the
nominal they accompany).

According to a structural criterion, which regards the introductory conjunction /

pronoun/ relative adverb of the subordinate, these clauses can be complements, wh-
complements and adverbials (which normally correspond to he Romanian complement
circumstanţial).

Don’t forget three important points made in this chapter:

 there is no correspondence between the Romanian complement and the English one,
since the English term has nothing to do with syntactical function.
 English makes use of prepositional objects that are normally required by the fact that
the main verb/adjective is accompanied by an obligatory preposition (e.g. think of,
look at, interested in, etc.) We use the term prepositional object even for those cases
when the preposition imprinted in the lexical entry of the verb is not visible: I thought
that he was smart.
 The Romanian term complement indirect (i.e. indirect object) is only available in
English for Dative objects, answering the question to whom? So, be very careful to
use this term correctly, since it is not as frequent in English as it is in Romanian.
A complete syntactic analysis of a sentence will have to take into consideration both
criteria we have discussed in this chapter.

Activity 5*: Translate the following, making use of the information on subordinate
clauses supplied by this chapter:
1.Cu câteva luni înaintea războiului Anton Modan nu ştia că de mult nu mai era om
îndrăzneţ, atât de demult încât în ziua când află nici măcar nu se mai trudi cu gândul să se
întoarcă înapoi şi să-şi dea seama de când.
Nevasta secera în tăcere, fără să-şi ridice spinarea, şi din mişcările ei se putea înţelege
că e stăpână pe un gând care o ţinea mereu încordată şi îndârjită. Anton se uita la ea şi se
întreba, ce o fi având. Tot timpul dimineţii o văzuse că tace.
Când Anton lăsă secerea unii se uitară la soare să-şi dea seama dacă mai e mult până la
prânz. (…) “Mă, dar devreme mai mănâncă Anton ăsta!” gândiră ei. Alţii, însă, care îi
văzuseră pe Anton şi nevastă-sa cum stăteau cu secerile în mână şi se uitau unul la altul,
îşi spuseseră că Anton, după ce că are grâu puţin, nici pe ăla nu-l seceră ca lumea.
O zbughi înapoi, dar după ce alergă vreo douăzeci de paşi, simţind că nu s-a luat nimeni
după el, se opri şi se uită să vadă ce ispravă a făcut.
Toată lumea înţelesese că, de fapt, ameninţarea aceasta semăna mai mult cu o flacără
care rămâne o clipă în aer, deşi paiele de dedesubt sunt cenuşă, decât cu ameninţare
adevărată. Fiindcă un on îndrăzneţ nu se clatină pe drum, sau dacă se clatină se întoarce
îndărăt şi nu mai ameninţă, fiindcă şi să înghiţi nu e puţin, şi pentru asta îţi trebuie curaj.
(Marin Preda –
Îndrăzneala)
2. Nici acum, timp de un ceas, cât omul din mlaştină urmări atent întoarcerea acasă a
acestei familii, nu se zări nici prin apropiere şi nici prin curte umbra unui bărbat sau
măcar a unui bătrân. Unui luptător nu numai atenţia lui încordată şi semnele exterioare
vizibile îi semnalează prezenţa inamicului, ci îl ajută şi mirosul său pe căi mai ascunse,
pe care el nu se bizuie în întregime, dar nici nu le dispreţuieşte. Nang învăţase să afle
măsura potrivită şi în anumite împrejurări sfida pericolul, iar în altele era de o prudenţă
exagerată. În cazul de faţă avu acest sentiment că nu-l pândeşte nici o primejdie; întâi,
devenise limpede faptul că nu mai exista la acest punct de trecere peste râu nici un bac şi
că ăn general circulaţia era întreruptă total pe aceasta arteră. Cât priveşte viaţa acestei
familii, izolate de sat, avea să vadă la căderea nopţii ce era cu ea şi în ce măsură îi putea
fi de folos. (Marin Preda – Friguri)
3. Cu privire la mutarea lor la Brăila, Costel de curând scrisese acasă că n-ar fi defel
potrivit să se mute şi că se miră că dumnealor stăruiesc si nu pricep. N-avea el dreptate?
era destul să te uiţi la Ana, cât de bolnavă era, şi erau atâtea alte motive…
Nu-şi da însă seama că până deunăzi în toate scrisorile insista asupra putinţei de a
obţine un post bun la Brăila. Roşise de necaz când mamă-sa îi răspunsese că se miră cum
azi zice una şi mâine alta şi îi tot suceşte ca pe păpuşi.
Nu! El nu era câtuşi de puţin sucit. Numai că avea subt ochi pe Ana, pe când
dumnealor vorbeau de la depărtare. Ana nu putea suferi o mutare acum.
Era bine de ştiut, deşi cam târziu, după ce tatăl lui si ea alergaseră peste tot după un
post pentru el… dar nu face nimic; acum sunt desluşiţi, rămâne totul baltă şi pace.
Pace nu era. Costel nu înţelegea nici să rămână totul baltă, deşi deocamdată n-ar fi vrut
cu nici un preţ să se mute din Bucureşti. Îl supăra şi tonul mamei, aşa de oţetit. Pentru a o
pedepsi si pentru că nu prea ştia el singur ce vrea şi nici ce să-i răspundă, amânase
scrisul. (Hortensia Papadat Bengescu – Logodnicul)
4. Iată, de pildă, această întâie zi când a început neliniştea mea, din cauza lui G…
Anişoara, care într-un fel avea mania excursiilor “în bandă”, a căror promiscuitate mie
îmi făcea silă, a hotărât ca de Sfântul Constantin şi Elena (cădea acum într-o sâmbătă, iar
luni era o altă sărbătoare) să facem o excursie de trei zile la vie, la nişte prieteni comuni,
la Odobeşti, cu automobilele unora dintre ei. De vreo două-trei ori ne aranjasem în cele
trei maşini şi de două-trei ori ne-au schimbat, căci era cineva important care nu se simţea
bine plasat. În realitate, femeile căutau să se găsească la un loc cu bărbaţii care le
interesau, iar când nu izbuteau de la început, stricau totul, sub pretexte dintre cele mai
neserioase. Partea dezagreabilă era că urcam şi coboram fără să ştim de ce, iar asta ni se
comunica simplu de către cei îmbufnaţi şi iniţiaţi sumar.
- Iar ne dăm jos? Dar ce e, frate, nu se mai termină?
Aci răspundeau ridicături din umeri plictisite, ale celor care se aranjaseră bine şi acum se
temeau să nu li se strice socotelile.
(Camil Petrescu – Ultima noapte de dragoste, întâia noapte de război)